Mumbai: In a view to bring strict norms against hookah parlours in the state, the Home Department has requested the law and judiciary department to double the imprisonment from 1 to 2 years. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has given strict instructions to the Home Department to follow Gujarat and ban hookah parlours so that it would be helpful to sustain it in the court.
A bill has been planned to ban the hookah parlours by the Home Department, which might come before the legislature during the budget session beginning from Monday. There are about 130 hookah parlours in Mumbai, which are facing opposition from a section of the society.
The draft law has proposed Rs 50,000 fine and 1-year imprisonment for running the hookah parlour. “However, we have requested the law and judiciary department to increase the quantum of punishment and make the law strigent and deterent for the illegal hookah parlours. The proposal has gone to the law and judiciary department for legal specifications. We will soon get approval,” a senior official from the Home Department said. The state has proposed amendment in the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA).
The government brought the amendment in the act, after two Kamala mill restaurants were gutted in the fire and claimed 14 lives. Both the restaurants served hookah which started the fire.
The state government does not have any law to regulate the hookah parlour. The official added that the act has been drafted based on the Gujarat act. Gujarat in 2017 amended the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 to ban hookah parlours.
